A window that invites a “borrowed view,” sharing a glimpse of the verdant beauty that lies beyond.

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road;make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.” - Jim Elliot

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Esther: Week 3, Day 3"A Certain People"

Then Haman said to King Xerxes,"There is a certain peopledispersed and scattered among the peoplesin all the provinces of your kingdomwhose customs are differentfrom those of all other peopleand who do not obey the king's laws;it is not in the king's best interestto tolerate them."Esther 3:8 NIV

As soon I read the words on Page 68 of the workbook Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman, I was reminded of the two Holocaust Museums I have visited. One in Washington, DC and the other in Israel.

In 1993 Anthony and I visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. And all I can remember is... shoes. A room of shoes. Covered in dirt and dust. One upon the other. Difficult to distinguish one from the other. My brain tried to wrap itself around the number. The number of shoes. There were too many. So many had died. Had been killed. Had been left "anonymous, indefinite, and depersonalized."

Fast forward to 2008. A visit to Israel. A visit to Yad Vashem. The Holocaust Museum. Where you would not focus on a pile of shoes, but one shoe. Where each artifact is directly linked to the victim. The baby shoe of Hinda Cohen (1942-1944).

"And to them will I give in my houseand within my wallsa memorial and a name (a "yad vashem")...that shall not be cut off. Isaiah 56:5

I found this excerpt from the Yad Vashem Museum... and thought you might find it of interest and value as you work on the study. I have highlighted words that contradict "anonymous, indefinite, depersonalized."

...Yad Vashem focuses on the human story of people in the heart of western civilization... Our aim is to present Jewish people as human beings with discernable identities which the Germans planned to destroy in the name of their murderous racist ideology. From the dust and loss, we are obliged to retrieve the humanity of the victims and uncover families and communities as well as their culture that was annihilated during the Holocaust.

Our aim is twofold: First, to return to the victims their names and faces and thus to thwart the stated Nazi intention of murdering them and wiping out their memory; second, to learn about the victims so that we can remember them.

Jewish history is handed down from generation to generation and strengthens the sense of belonging to the Jewish people...

Our educational approach also aspires to instill in the pupils a feeling of hope. Studying the Holocaust can generate a feeling of helplessness, but we aim to create a dialogue with the past for a better future.

Pages of Testimony serve as symbolic tombstones and commemorate the identities and life stories of each victim that the Nazis murdered.

Millions of victims are still nameless. The generation of Holocaust survivors is naturally diminishing as they pass on and the collection of the missing names has become a major priority in an effort to preserve the memory of Holocaust victims. This race against the clock involves engaging the only people that knew and remember the victims who can still provide the information to preserve their identities.

Inscription on Monument as you exit Yad Vashem

"I will put my breath into youand you shall live again,and I will set you upon your own soil..."Ezekiel 37:14

I hope this gives you another perspective on Haman's objective in Esther 3:8.

3 comments:

Wow..thank for sharing this. I too found myself remembering the Holocaust. And the number of shoes, I remember and can recall them being stacked like cord wood... I went in 2001 to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. I remember it...and will NEVER forget it. Did my brain wrap around it? I do not think so... I just remember leaving there feeling a deeper loss and respect for those lost, and for the Jewish culture in general. This study has impacted me in ways that mere words can not describe. The Haman's of this world are there today, and 'certain people' today are dispersed and scattered to serve as a reminder they will never be forgotten...

So strange that today I was reading about a display in the surrounding counties of shoes worn by the victims of domestic abuse, women and children. How moving to just see their shoes and consider walking in a mile in their shoes.

I'm not doing the study but felt the poignant connections you made to the Holocaust. The quotes from that second museum were incredible. If I were to make a connection I'd be thinking of Fox's book of Martyrs and the present day missionaries be martyred.